SLC to host student films

Projects range from Southern dramas to supernatural comedies

Mar. 6, 2013

Written by

Brittany Lyons

Staff Writer

A magic goldfish, a search for psychedelic mushrooms and a suicide cult are just a few of the subjects that the BFA Filmmaking III Projects tackle this year. The F3s, as they are known, allow students to write, direct, edit and produce their last set of original short works before they begin their thesis films.

“They work with the illustrious Victor Nunez, whom we're fortunate to have on our faculty, and all of the films are short narratives on any subject the students choose,” Director of Industry Relations and Publicity for the FSU College of Motion Picture Arts Brenda Mills said. “The films tend to vary widely in content, from drama to comedy, birth to death, religion to drug abuse. They also tend to be really beautiful to look at.”

The projects are completed through a multistep process that starts in the fall semester and takes months of dedication and effort.

“After a few weeks of class we had to come up with three pitches for our Screenwriting class,” junior and director of Polterghost Zackary Ogle said. “From there, we develop them a little more and then pitch them to the rest of the class and gauge the reaction each gets. Eventually we have to pick one idea and then develop the pitch until we have a firm grasp on the project.”

After writing multiple drafts of the script, Ogle said that each movie crew goes through pre-production before shooting takes place.

“The weekend leading up to the shoot is your official pre-production, which entails any casting you haven't done, finding locations, getting extras, getting craft services and supplies, making props [and] costumes, figuring out the shots you want,” Ogle said. “The director, producer, cinematographer and production designer are the ones that handle all this, each with their own jobs to do. Then shooting starts and you have 12 shooting hours each day to get everything done.”

Senior Max Allman, who wrote and directed Georgia Howl, said that production is followed by a week of picture editing and a week of sound editing.

“We also color our films, which is putting the finishing touches on the visual of the film, and then we sound mix,” Allman said. “So it's a pretty long process, but I think it really shows in the quality of everyone's work.”

In addition to working on their own films, Allman, Ogle and the other filmmakers were responsible for editing, producing, directing photography or working on production design for their peers’ movies. The piece that Allman wrote and directed, however, has a special significance for him.

“I chose my topic merely because it was something personal to me and something I've been wanting to try,” Allman said. “I typically do comedy of some sort, but this time around, I did a drama set in the South, which was something I had always wanted to do because it was where I grew up, and the landscape around here is perfect.”

On the other end of the spectrum, the idea behind Ogle’s film involves masturbation and a ghost.

“I didn't really think it would be anything actually, but I showed it to someone and they thought it was hilarious,” Ogle said. “It's funny because I actually saw myself doing something serious this semester, but this just seemed like too much fun to pass up. I guess I just like comedies about weird, awful things happening to people.”

Ogle and Allman both expressed interest in sending their projects to film festivals.

“So far the response has been good, and I'm excited to see how a larger audience takes it,” Ogle said. “It's such a strange subject, so I'm a little nervous as to how it's going to be received, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Most likely I'll send it off to some comedy and horror festivals, as well as some B-movie festivals. Those guys go for some really crazy stuff.”

Allman views the F3s as a stepping stone onto bigger projects.

“The learning process of making our F3, considering it was the big film experience we've had so far, is the best thing I've learned and gotten out of this experience,” Allman said. “I learned a lot about myself as a filmmaker and I did a lot of things right and I did a lot of things wrong, so it's been helpful in sculpting my identity as a writer and director.”

The F3s will be shown on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in the Askew Student Life Cinema. Tickets are required for the event.